How did that science get in my chocolate?

On average, Americans wolf down 12 pounds of this sweet stuff each year. How much do you know about how your favorite chocolaty treat goes from bean to bar -- and the science behind it? Sink your teeth into this quiz to find out.

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Question 1 of 20

Cacao (cocoa) beans can be as varied as wine grape varieties.

Fact

What a lovely vintage … of beans? There are three main varieties of cocoa beans (Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario), but their flavors and intensities differ depending on where they’re grown.

Fiction

Question 2 of 20

Most cacao beans are grown in South America.

Fact

Fiction

Can you say "chocolat"? Although cacao beans originated in South America, the number-one producer of them today is the Cote d’Ivoire in Africa.

Question 3 of 20

Cocoa beans are harvested by machines.

Fact

Fiction

Cacao beans are plucked by hand, the pods carefully cut from the tree and split open to remove the beans.

Question 4 of 20

Originally, people drank chocolate as an unsweetened beverage.

Fact

It's hard to imagine today, but sugar wasn’t added to chocolate until it reached Europe in the 1500s. And it wasn’t eaten in bar form for a few hundred years after that.

Fiction

Question 5 of 20

Aztec Emperor Montezuma was rumored to drink as many as 50 cups of chocolate a day.

Fact

After meeting Aztec emperor Montezuma II in 1519, explorer Hernando Cortes reported that he drank nothing but chocolate with his meals, out of a golden goblet.

Kind of a trick question. There is some evidence that eating very dark chocolate may lower the risk of some diseases, but it’s not carte blanche to chow down on the good stuff.

Question 7 of 20

Only chocolate contains flavonoids, compounds believed to have antioxidant properties.

Fact

Fiction

Flavonoids also pop up in many other plants, including tea, citrus fruits, berries and red wine.

Question 8 of 20

Chocolate may be a popular Valentine’s Day gift, but there’s no proof that it’s an aphrodisiac.

Fact

Sometimes, a chocolate is just a chocolate. Chocolate contains a chemical called phenethylamine that causes feelings of euphoria. Unfortunately, it’s broken down in the body before it can reach the brain.

Fiction

Question 9 of 20

A 2006 study found that women who eat chocolate every day have higher libidos than those who don’t.

Fact

Fiction

Close, but no cigar (or rather, chocolate bar). Although this initially seemed to be the case, the daily-chocolate-eating women in the study were also younger than the others, and libidos tend to drop as women age.

Question 10 of 20

If you find white spots on your chocolate, that means it’s gone bad and you need to throw it away.

Fact

Fiction

Known as “bloom”, it's the bane of chocolatiers -- and chocolate lovers -- everywhere. It probably wasn’t stored properly and it may not taste the same, but your chocolate's still fine to eat.

Question 11 of 20

White chocolate isn’t really chocolate.

Fact

It depends on what you mean by “really chocolate." White chocolate doesn’t contain any cocoa solids, but it does have a base of cocoa butter.

Fiction

Question 12 of 20

There are strict rules governing what can be labeled dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate.

Fact

It depends on where the chocolate is sold, though. For example, dark chocolate sold in the European Union must contain a minimum of 35 percent cocoa solids.

Fiction

Question 13 of 20

Chocolate is just crushed, melted cacao beans with some sugar added.

Fact

Fiction

While dark chocolate can have cacao as its sole ingredient, it usually includes many others. Making chocolate also involves much, much more than just crushing up some cacao beans!

Question 14 of 20

You can actually create chocolate from cacao beans at home, in your own kitchen.

Fact

While it’s a complicated (and expensive, if you want it to be high quality) venture to make your own chocolate, it can be done.

Fiction

Question 15 of 20

“Chocolatier” is just another word for “chocolate maker.”

Fact

Fiction

Chocolatiers create delicious candies and confections using pre-made chocolate; chocolate makers make chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients.

Question 16 of 20

Chocolate-making is still a mysterious process.

Fact

We still don’t quite understand what happens during conching, a necessary step in the production of chocolate that involves agitating chocolate liquor for hours.

Fiction

Question 17 of 20

Chocolate liquor contains alcohol and is used as a mixer or imbibed by itself.

Fact

Fiction

You wouldn't want to confuse these two! Chocolate liqueur is an alcoholic beverage, usually made with vodka. Chocolate liquor is pure, liquid chocolate.

Question 18 of 20

The conche machine used in chocolate-making was named for its inventor, Joseph Conche.

Fact

Fiction

The original conche machine was invented by Rodolphe Lindt in 1879 and looked like the shell of a sea snail called a conch (or conche).

Question 19 of 20

Tempering, a process by which chocolate is melted, reheated and held at specific temperatures, is only done by really high-quality chocolate makers.

Fact

Fiction

Temper, temper. Chocolate has to be tempered. Without this process, the chocolate isn’t glossy, doesn’t last as long and doesn’t have that nice snap when you bite it.

Question 20 of 20

When chocolate cools, the cocoa butter inside it solidifies into small, uniform crystals.

Fact

Fiction

Left to cool at room temperature, the cocoa butter crystalizes into different sizes. Tempering makes the crystals small and uniform, resulting in smooth chocolate.